Catcher in the Rye

Culture in 1950s America pitted the Father Knows Best and Leave It To Beaver mentality of suburban America against a backdrop of increasing racial tension, the growth of psychoanalysis, the threat of nuclear war, the Korean War, the Communist paranoia spearheaded by Senator Joseph McCarthy’s communist witch hunts, rising prosperity and consumerism (materialism) and the House Un-American Activities Commission (HUAC) and the Federal Loyalty Boards. It is such a culture in which Holden exists. Holden has just been expelled from his fourth boarding school when his journey begins. He goes to New York, his hometown, and attempts to rekindle a series of past relationships. Eventual

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he first manuals of cool, a how-to guide for those who would detach themselves from the all-American pursuit of prosperity and bliss” (129). Holden and Salinger inform us on the very first page of the book that this is not going to be another typical tale of literature derived from the Dickensian model of poor, tortured childhoods. As Holden tells us at the outset: “IF YOU REALLY want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth...it bores me” (Salinger 1). Holden in this passage lets us see that he doesn’t put much effort into things he finds pointless. None of the experiences of his childhood that he will reveal will change how things are in society. Holden tapped into the bored youth of 1950s America by more than just rebelling against corrupt and superficial adult existence. Salinger also tapped into the restless sexuality of American youth that was not yet the liberated culture of the 1960s. Holden believes adults have empty sexual encounters but he lives for love. He thin
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Approximate Word count = 2632
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page)